


In Another Life

by infinitegraces



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Tumblr: promptsinpanem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-19
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5032624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitegraces/pseuds/infinitegraces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I can’t imagine having all that responsibility on my shoulders.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the “What If?” prompt from the original Round 2, weaving two of the ideas in it together. I’ve always wanted to read more fic exploring how Katniss might’ve grown up if her dad was still alive. :) All mistakes on this one are my own.

"Well, what do you say we go clean up a bit before taking our trades to town, my dear?" Basil Everdeen asked his daughter. They had split their haul into three different parts. One third to trade at the Hob, another to trade in town, and the final third to take home to Mother and Prim.  
  
"Dad, of course we're going home to clean up before we go to town. Mother would have a fit if we didn't," Katniss responded. They may have been from the Seam, but they both knew the importance of appearances when they traded in town.  
  
It didn't escape Basil's attention that the Katniss who entered their home from hunting and trading at the Hob and the Katniss who left their home to go trade in town were quite different. One wasn't concerned with her appearance at all, while the other…  
  
Something was up with his daughter. Basil wasn't sure what, but he had a feeling he would find out soon.  
  
Their walk to town was a quiet one, with the occasional greeting to people they knew.  
  
"Where are we starting today?" Katniss asked her dad. They had been walking for about fifteen minutes. It usually took them twenty minutes to get to the edge of town, twenty-five to get to the square where most of the businesses they traded with were.  
  
"Well, Cartwright usually likes rabbit, so I brought one to take to him. You and Prim could both use some shoes. He's usually pretty flexible, letting me pay with both coin and game. We'll start there."  
  
"Okay, what about after there?"  
  
"I haven't decided yet. Patience, my not-so-little duckling."  
  
In choosing to start at the shoe shop, her father had chosen to start at the farthest end of the square. As they continued down the sidewalk in front of the other shops, something caught Katniss' eye through one of the windows. Basil was so intent on his destination that he didn't even notice his daughter's moment of distraction.  
  
*~*~*  
  
After they left the Cartwright's shoe shop, they proceeded to visit the butcher, the florist, and the grocer. It seemed to Katniss they only had one regular stop left—the bakery. At the owner's request, they usually went around to the back door. His wife was not a tolerant woman, so they didn't argue with Bing Mellark's request. Katniss actually kind of liked the arrangement better, anyway. There was a large apple tree behind the bakery that had a branch perfect for one or even two people to sit on.  
  
Katniss stood next to her father as he knocked on the bakery's back door. It was barely a moment before the door opened. They were greeted by a cheerful young man with blonde hair and blue eyes just like the rest of his family's.  
  
"Good afternoon, Mr. Everdeen, Katniss. How’s your day been so far?"  
"Good afternoon, Peeta. It's been a pretty good day. We couldn't have asked for better weather. Is your father around?" Basil had brought some berries that Bing had requested in addition to the usual squirrels and a lump of cheese from Prim's goat.  
  
"Yes, he had to step to the front for a moment. It got a bit busy for Mother to handle by herself," Peeta said. He looked at Katniss for a moment, smiling warmly at her before looking back to Basil. "Actually, he told me to ask you to step inside, said he's got something to discuss with you."  
  
"Well, I certainly don't mind waiting inside for him if that's what he'd like for me to do. Katniss, are you coming inside as well?"  
  
She had hardly looked away from Peeta since they'd arrived, enjoying the way his hair flopped down over his eyes. "Actually, Dad, I think I'll stay out here. Like you said, it's just such a beautiful day…I'd hate to waste a moment of it."  
  
"That's fine, then," Basil said. Peeta stepped to the side to allow him to enter, winking at Katniss as her dad passed by him. She ducked her head as she felt her cheeks warm, though she couldn't stop her smile from becoming that much wider.  
  
"I'll be out in a moment," he mouthed to her. She nodded, stepping back away from the door. She tilted her face up toward the sun, closing her eyes as she remembered how they'd gotten to this point.  
  
They were seventeen now. It was hard to believe he hadn't said a word to her until they were fifteen. Up until then, the only contact they'd had consisted of non-verbal greetings in school and during Sunday trades. But one Sunday in July the year she turned fifteen, on another day Mr. Mellark had asked her father inside, that had changed. She had been standing under the apple tree, studying its branches, when she felt someone move to stand beside her.  
  
"They're pretty sturdy," Peeta had said. "My brothers and I are able to climb them, so I'm sure you could as well."  
  
She’d been so surprised that he was speaking to her, she hadn't been able to say anything in return. At least, not at first. He knew she was a little shy, though, so he wasn't surprised. Her closest friend was the mayor's daughter, whom she sat with at lunch and enjoyed an easy silence with.  
  
When she finally did speak, it was to ask him a simple question. "Can that lower branch hold the weight of two? It looks like a good place to sit and talk."  
  
"It can," he assured her.  
  
She didn't say anything else, instead stepping forward to the tree and boosting herself up onto the branch she had asked him about. She stood on it for a moment before moving out a couple of feet and sitting astride it, facing the trunk. Looking at him from where she sat, she spoke again.  
  
"Well? I could use some company."  
  
Peeta didn't even hesitate, and he hadn't hesitated with her since. In the two years since they had first spoken, they'd learned everything there was to know about one another.  
  
The day Katniss turned sixteen, for example, he finally told her about their first day of school. Or as he put it, the day he became a goner for her. They talked about how lucky they were that neither of their fathers were the type to hold grudges. Both Mr. Everdeen and Mr. Mellark had been in love Katniss' mother, Rosemary, when they were young.  
  
"Dad's always just wanted to see the people he loves happy," Peeta had said. "He's known how I felt about you for ages, even though I never actually told him."  
  
It was the door slamming shut that brought Katniss out of her reverie, her eyes flying open. She barely had a moment before he grabbed her hand, pulling her over to the tree.  
  
"How long do we have?" Katniss asked him, hugging him close. It was amazing how she felt as safe in Peeta's arms as she did in her father's. Sometimes it felt even safer.  
  
"There's no predicting it with those two, you know that," he replied, cradling her cheeks in his hands. She nodded, smiling up at him in the soft way that made him feel like the luckiest guy alive. "What had you jumping when I came out, anyway?"  
  
"You just startled me. I was remembering the first time we ever spoke. And our conversation from my birthday last year…" She trailed off, looking up into his beautiful blue eyes.  
  
"Well, those are wonderful memories, I can't say I wouldn't be distracted by them myself if I were waiting on you." He nuzzled his nose against hers. It would be so easy to lose himself in her, even while their fathers were inside having a conversation. They shouldn't, though. "Has your dad suspected anything?"  
  
"No, he's been so focused on work and keeping us fed and everything," she sighed. "I can't imagine having all of that responsibility on my shoulders."  
  
"Your dad is pretty awesome for how he provides for you, Prim, and your mother," he declared. "I remember the January after my twelfth birthday, when that last big mine explosion happened. All I could think of was your family and hope everything was okay." He paused for a moment, catching his thoughts before they all came spilling out together. "And then the next day, your mother came to get some bread and I heard her tell my dad how grateful she was that your dad had been sick that day.  
  
"I could tell she felt selfish thinking that way when so many others had lost family members, but I was also relieved to hear he hadn't been there. I can't imagine what would have happened if he had.  
  
"Your parents love each other so much that I worry losing him would have crippled your mom. That would have left you to be responsible for everything, and the way the weather was that year, I just—“ Peeta shuddered, thinking about what could have been if Basil Everdeen hadn't been sick that January day five and a half years ago.  
  
"They do love each other a lot, don't they?" she whispered, not liking to think about what could have happened.  
  
"I can't help but wonder," he mused, "if we would be here now, if he'd died."  
  
"I don't know if it would have happened yet," Katniss murmured, "but I can't fathom the idea of living without you."  
  
"So what you're saying is?"  
  
"I think…even if my dad hadn't been sick that day and had died, we would've happened anyway," she declared. "Probably not in the same way, of course, but eventually."  
  
"I can live with that belief," he agreed. As they stood there in one another's arms, he felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her.  
  
She beat him to it, pressing her lips against his insistently. Though they had done this numerous times, the feeling of her body pressed against his never failed to cause a reaction. Her lips, sighing against his, tasted slightly of strawberries and peppermint. Sweet, just like her.  
  
One of his hands was wrapped around her back, pulling her tight against him. The other cupped her face, his thumb caressing her cheekbone. She had tangled one of her hands in his blonde curls; the other had moved from clutching his shirt to rest over his hand, holding it against her face.  
  
He was certain that he would've never stopped kissing her if he hadn't needed to breathe.  
  
*~*~*  
  
_Meanwhile, inside the bakery…_  
  
Basil Everdeen knew Peeta Mellark liked his eldest daughter. He'd known that for ages, just from watching the boy whenever trading with the boy's father. What he didn't know was that his daughter reciprocated those feelings.  
  
Bing Mellark, on the other hand, had noticed Katniss staring at his youngest son. Through the windows when she and Basil would pass by the bakery, in the kitchen when he would invite them both in... It was clear to Bing that both teenagers were rather enamored with each other.  
  
"How's Rosemary?" Bing inquired as they conducted their trade. He would always have a spot in his heart for his childhood friend, despite the divergence in their paths twenty-one years ago.  
  
"She's doing well. How's Ida?"  
  
"Same as ever," Bing laughed. He knew his wife had a reputation and while it wasn't entirely undeserved, she also wasn't as bad as some of the rumors let on.  
  
"Good, good," Basil replied absently as they left the storage room to re-enter the kitchen, which was currently empty. "Well, I guess I better not keep Katniss waiting any longer. We still need to take some strawberries to the Undersees before we head home."  
  
But when Bing opened the door for him, he realized his daughter had been rather occupied while he'd been inside. He stepped back, away from the door, and motioned for Bing to shut it quietly.  
  
"Did you know about this, Bing?"  
  
"I had my suspicions, but this is the first time I've actually seen them together, Basil. My guess is they've been meeting up in the meadow more often than anywhere else," Bing said. "Not like there are many places they could go, and neither of them seem the type to visit the slag heap."  
  
Basil snorted. "I told Katniss if I ever caught her at the slag heap, she'd be grounded until she was thirty. She seemed offended that I even thought she'd go there, though. I knew your boy liked her, I just—"  
  
"—didn't know she returned his feelings, I get it. She's your daughter, no father wants to think of their little girl growing up and liking boys. I'd feel the same way if I had one," Bing proffered. "Though I must say Peeta has been the easiest of my boys to raise. Graham and Barley both got Ida's temperament. They may look like me, but everything else, they got from her."  
  
"I reckon my Katniss could do much worse than your boy. As a matter of fact, I think I'll take him off your hands for the evening and invite him to supper with us."  
  
"Are you sure, Basil?"  
  
"Absolutely. You saw them, Bing, as clear as I did. He's been in love with her for years, and it's obvious she feels the same. And she may be sweet, but she's also stubborn and set in her ways. So when she decides she wants something, you best not get in her way. She got that in a double dose from both her mother and me," Basil chuckled.  
  
"Okay, then. I'll send some extra cheese buns home with you, as well. Let me get those and give them a few more moments before you go disturb the peace."  
  
As Bing went to get the buns, he caught a glimpse of the couple outside under the apple tree. They were wrapped up tightly in one another, her head now resting against his chest. Bing could see the smiles on their faces even through the window above the sink to the left of the door.  
  
_Things always work out as they should_ , he thought. Little did he know, Basil was thinking the same thing.  
  
_Fin_.  
  



End file.
